Frosty: We need to keep improving

V8 Supercars Championship leader Mark Winterbottom is confident he can stay in front of his rivals, as long as he and his team continue developing and improving throughout the 2015 season.

The Pepsi Max racer was at the top of the table this time last year, but Prodrive dropped away after Darwin - something the team is determined to avoid this time around.

Over thebreak between Winton and this weekend's SKYCITY Triple Crown, Winterbottom's performance and consistency has been under scrutiny by competitors - two-time champ Marcos Ambrose asserted that 'Frosty' would deliver this year, while 2010 champ James Courtney suggested animatedly the team would fall foul to its usual errors.

Winterbottom is just pleased to have the lead longer than one night, after he had a measly one-point margin the Saturdayeveningafter Perth - he spoke to v8supercars.com.au about the state of play after returning from a trip overseas to Bali with his family.

"It's best to lead in December - but it's good to lead anytime, it means you're going alright, you're consistent and getting results, so it's good," a relaxed Winterbottom told v8supercars.com.au.

"I'm happy and always want to lead, so good to keep it for longer than one night, which was obviously in Perth.

"We've had it a couple of times now, so now the job is to try and keep it."

He confirmed the team had worked on developments for the FG X Falcons over the break, and is confident of their ability to maintain momentum. Since debuting the FG X, the car has performed well at a number of circuits with different characteristics - the next step for Frosty is getting more out of it in qualifying.

"Everyone says that [they're working hard] - and everyone does - but they've really pushed forward," Winterbottom said of his Prodrive team over the break.

"We'll see if we get any gains out of it in Darwin, but I think we're confident in what we've done improving it.

"We've shown in the past you can only lead for a bit if you don't keep improving ... we have to keep this gain we've got over everyone and hope people haven't improved more than what we have in the break."

In relation to the recent banter about Winterbottom's title chances - which, in addition to Ambrose and Courtney's comments, included Tim Edwards admitting the team was mindful of rising above previous years' errors - he said he didn't pay much attention.

"I don't read what others say - just try and do the best job you can.

"Every year you go in, you're hopefully you've improved on weaknesses - whether that's me or the team - whatever we think it is to win the Championship, you always try and improve every aspect," he said.

Last year's SKYCITY Triple Crown in Darwin was a standout for Winterbottom, coming home just 0.53sec in front of Shane van Gisbergen after two different strategy options played out with a tiny final margin.

His Saturday performance had netted two sixth-placed finishes, but it was that 200km victory that cemented him as a title contender.

The #5 Falcon driver acknowledged the Darwin strategy-fuelled race as an important victory last season, with smart decisions made by then engineer Grant McPherson - who now runs Craig Lowndes at Red Bull, who sits 12 points behind Winterbottom on the table.

Winterbottom praised his new engineer Jason Gray, who has stepped up from data engineer on car #5 for this season and has already guided Winterbottom to four Championship race wins in 2015.

Lowndes and Jamie Whincup are the only other multiple race winners this year, tied on two wins apiece.

"I've got confidence in the team that they're definitely working hard and my engineer is working really hard," Winterbottom said.

"It's his first year as a main engineer and he's got a lot of pressure on him because of the competition but he's working really hard...

"Even when you're not going well you always back your team and that they'll help you. So definitely confident in the guys and girls to get it done."

Commenting on the Championship fight, he said simply: "You never get ahead of yourself in this game because it bites you - it bites you way too quick."

Stay tuned to this weekend's SKYCITY Triple Crown live on FOX SPORTS and Ten/One for highlights - click here for full details.